New Zealand

We pulled the Wicked camper van away from the campground at Fiordland National Park and headed toward Fox Glacier, located on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Our plan was to visit both Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier; but the weather only allowed us to visit…

We looked inside the Wicked Camper van, and then we looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. Since our sons had joined us for a couple of weeks in New Zealand, we reminded the representative that we needed a van that would fit all five of us. We…

A wise uncle once told Dirk, “You can’t just have fun all the time.” But we had a different idea when we were in Queenstown, New Zealand.
Reunited at the Airport
We met up with Gerard and Steven going through security at the Auckland airport. Nick had already cleared and was…

We said, “See ya next year!” to Emm Cee and Jeep in Rotorua, New Zealand, and drove our rental car to Auckland to meet up with Gerard, Steven and Nick. We were so happy that our sons would be able to make the long journey from San Antonio, Texas,…

We left Kakahi well rested and eager to meet our couch surfing hostess, Emm Cee, in Rotorua, New Zealand. Rotorua is a major tourist destination and is mostly known for its geothermal activity and Maori tradition. We noticed as we drove into town and started looking for Emm Cee’s…

We left Omri and Lucy’s house in Muriwai and drove to a quaint farmhouse in Kakahi, New Zealand. We were ready for a week of catching up on writing, getting some rest, and having no specific plans or agenda for a while.
Quiet Times in Kakahi
Dirk found this great property…

After arriving in Auckland by bus from Bay of Islands, we picked up our rental car and made the 45-minute drive to Muriwai. We admired beautiful Muriwai Beach, and then we found the home of our new friends Omri and Lucy. We had connected with them via the KiwiBurn…

Our week-long sailing trip from Fiji to New Zealand ended when we dropped anchor in Opua, in the Bay of Islands. We were excited about arriving in New Zealand, to say the least. It was bittersweet, though. It had been such a fun, amazing journey aboard Rewa, but her…

We left the Fijian island of Taveuni much sooner than we wanted to, but we were excited about our upcoming sailing adventure. Dirk had made arrangements through FindACrew.net for us to help a Mainer named David sail his boat from Suva, Fiji, to Opua, New Zealand in the Bay…

We picked up our purple rental van, complete with fuzzy dice, from Sweet As Campers in Wellington, NZ, and headed to KiwiBurn 2016, near Hunterville. Our Kiwi friends Omri and Lucy had invited us to participate with the Hamsters Without Borders – KiwiBurn Edition theme camp, where they’d also…